Encyclopedia of Espionage, Intelligence, and Security

Customs Service, United States

█ JUDSON KNIGHT

One of the oldest bureaus of the federal government, the United States
Customs Service was founded in the first year of George
Washington's presidency, and for decades the tariffs it collected
funded virtually all government activities. Today, Customs is a vast
border security force that yearly interdicts hundreds of millions of
dollars' worth of illegal goods. Following the terrorist attacks of
September 11, 2001, Customs became a significant component in homeland
security operations, and in March, 2003, it moved from the Department of
the Treasury to the newly created Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Among the post-September, 2001, measures it has adopted is a port security
program that requires shippers to provide advance notification of cargo
arriving on American shores.

Background

Soon after Washington took office as the nation's first president,
Congress passed the Tariff Act, which Washington signed on July 4, 1789.
Four weeks later, on July 31—in only the fifth act of congressional
history—Customs was established to protect American ports of entry.
Newspapers of the day called the Tariff Act the "second Declaration
of Independence," an appellation based on something more than the
date on which the act was signed: for the next 125 years, the revenue
provided by import tariffs funded nearly the entire federal government.

Over the course of its long existence, Customs has administered programs
that eventually passed to other departments. These included the
supervision of revenue cutters, ships that patrolled the
coastline—a service that ultimately became the U.S. Guard.
Additionally, Customs collected hospital dues to assist sick and disabled
seamen, a program now handled by the Public Health Service; collected
import and export statistics before the Bureau of the Census was founded
to undertake this responsibility; established standard weights and
measures prior to the founding of the now-defunct National Bureau of
Standards (now the National Institute of Standards and Technology); and
administered military pensions many decades before the founding of the
Department of Veterans Affairs.

Customs activities.
Customs is responsible for ensuring that all imports and exports comply
with U.S. laws and regulations; collecting and protecting revenue; and
guarding against smuggling. Its specific duties include assessing and
collecting duties, excise taxes, and penalties on imported goods;
interdicting and seizing illegal items; processing persons, baggage,
cargo, and mail; administering certain navigation laws; detecting and
apprehending persons engaged in activities designed to circumvent Customs
regulations; protecting American industry, as well as intellectual
property rights, by enforcing laws to prevent illegal trade practices;
enforcing import and export restrictions on dangerous items; and
collecting import and export data for the compilation of international
trade statistics. In addition to enforcing its own laws, Customs enforces
some 400 other laws on behalf of more than 40 government agencies.

In fiscal year 2002, Customs processed some 415 million passengers and
pedestrians entering or leaving U.S. territory. Additionally, it processed
a total of 130 million boats, ships, passenger vehicles, trucks, buses,
and aircraft, both private and commercial. In the course of these efforts,
it arrested nearly 13,000 people and seized a wide array of contraband,
including $204 million in illicit proceeds, $60 million in counterfeit
goods, and $1.3 million in merchandise; almost 4 million pounds (1.8
million kg) of marijuana, nearly 168,000 pounds (76,200 kg) of cocaine,
over 4,000 pounds (1,814 kg) of heroin, 7.5 million tablets of ecstasy,
and more than 3,000 pounds (1,361 kg) of methamphetamine; as well as
nearly 40,000 firearms and 6.4 million rounds of ammunition.

Protecting Homeland Security

With a mission that already made it alert to the protection of U.S.
borders and ports, Customs was a key component of homeland security even
before the phrase gained widespread currency in the wake of the 2001
terrorist attacks. Following those attacks, Customs undertook new measures
designed to tighten points of entry and protect the borders against
suspicions persons and items.

One such measure was Operation Green Quest, in which Customs teamed with
multiple federal agencies to target systems used by terrorist
organizations to acquire and transfer funds. Established on October 25,
2001, Operation Green Quest issued 177 search warrants, and made 79
arrests and 70 indictments within a little more than a year. The program
also netted $33 million in terrorist funds, some $21 million of it in the
form of currency and monetary instruments seized as part of the Operation
Green Quest bulk cash initiative.

On December 4, 2001, Customs partnered with U.S. industry in Project
Shield America, established for the purpose of protecting against the
acquisition and exploitation of technological products by terrorists and
terror-sponsoring nations. (Among the latter, the federal government has
identified seven governments: Cuba, Iran, Iraq,

A supervisor with the Bosnia-Herzegovina State Border Service Agency
uses a fiberscope to examine the gastank of a pickup truck during the
International Border Interdiction Training conducted by the U.S.
Customs Service at the Hidalgo port of entry in Hidalgo, Texas.

AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS

.

Libya, North Korea, Syria, and Sudan.) Of specific interest are U.S.
munitions list items, and strategic dual-use technology.

Challenges.
Post-September 2001 security measures also include several programs
requiring advance notice of shipments. Through its Container Security
Initiative, Customs places personnel at major foreign ports to pre-screen
cargo bound for the United States. The 24-Hour Ruling, instituted in
December, 2002, requires ocean carriers bringing goods to the United
States to provide manifest information at least 24 hours prior to taking
on cargo at the foreign port.

Additionally, in January 2003, Customs proposed new restrictions whereby
it would receive four hours' advance electronic notification before
imports are loaded into a truck. According to a report in
Transport Topics,
a number of truckers and shippers complained that this measure would
cripple business, and one industry executive predicted that "These
regulations will essentially eliminate same-day and next-day
shipping." Similar restrictions imposed on deliveries by air and
rail provoked protests from a wide array of shipping-related companies.

Disagreements with shippers may not be the only challenges Customs faces
in its intensified mission of homeland security. By 2003, the service ran
the danger of being overtaxed, with numerous activities across a broad
spectrum, including counter-narcotics programs, new border security
initiatives, financial investigations, and even child pornography stings.
Additionally, in January, 2003, Customs deployed two Blackhawk helicopters
and two Cessna Citation jets equipped with sensors to conduct
24-hour-a-day patrols over the skies of Washington, D.C., replacing
military jets that had performed that role since September, 2001.

Further complicating the picture for Customs was its transition to DHS,
which would require the separation of its border inspectors from its
investigators under two different branches of the new department. As of
March, 2003, as DHS began operations, Customs operatives faced the problem
of developing a suitable technological interface with the department, and
with each other.